In
Revelation, chapter 2, we read of an enigmatic sect or group called the
Nicolaitans who post a great threat to the churches of God.The Messiah, Yeshua, says to the Ephesus
church:“But this you have, that you
hate the DEEDS of the Nicoaitans, which I also HATE” (Rev.2:6).Notice that they hated and rejected the
doctrines, works, and doctrines of the “Nicolaitans.”

The
Ephesus church was historically a type or antitype of the first and second
century churches of God – essentially, the first generation of the church and
their early descendents.But Christ
said, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to [all] the
churches” (v.7).

Then,
to the Pergamos church, who existed in a succeeding period of the church,
Yeshua declares again:“But I have a
few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of
Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumblingblock before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.Thus [i.e. therefore] you also have those
who hold the doctrine of the Niicolaitans, which thing I hate.REPENT, or else I will come to you quickly
and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (vs.14-16).

Doctrine of Balaam

Notice
that their teachings are comparable or the same as the doctrine of Balaam, the
arch apostate deceiver and prophet who tried to divine magic against Israel
when they came out of Egypt.When God
would not allow him to place a curse on Israel, he later taught the Midianites
and their allies to “seduce” Israel from their faithfulness to God, by sending
their daughters and wives to use their sexual charms on them, and to entice
them to commit immorality and the partake of pagan festivities and idolatrous
worship, combining paganism with the worship of God – something which God
abominates and thoroughly detests!The
blending of the truth of God with paganism and wicked pagan festivals and
practices is an abhorrence to God.It
is called religious “syncretism.”

The
word “Nicolaitans,” in Greek, means “followers of Nicolas.”The name “Nicolas” means “victor of the
people.”

Peloubet’s
Bible Dictionary says of them, “They seem to have held that it was lawful
to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit the immoral excesses of the
heathen, in opposition to the decree of the Churchrendered in Acts 15:20, 29.Mingling themselves in the orgies of idolatrous feasts, they brought the
impurities of those feasts into the meetings of the Christian Church.And all this was done, it must be
remembered, not simply as an indulgence of appetite, but as a part of a SYSTEM,
supported by a “doctrine,” accompanied by the boasts of a prophetic
illumination” (p.449).

Early Church Syncretism

The
Nicolaitans, therefore, were the early Christian-pagan syncretists, the false
teachers that crept into the church, who disguised themselves as followers of
Christ – who professed to be His ministers and servants – but who led the
people astray.

Peter
wrote of them, saying, “But there were also false prophets among the people
[such as Balaam], even as there will be FALSE TEACHERS among you, who
will secretly bring in DESTRUCTIVE HERESIES, even denying the Lord who
bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.And many will follow their
destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed” – by the
world around, which will paint all true Christians with the same brush-stroke,
as being corrupt, immoral, and evil, because of the shenanigans and wicked
works of these “Nicolaitans” or false Christians, false teachers who claim to
represent Messiah and His truth (II Pet.2:1-2).

Peter
goes on, “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words”
(v.2).He says of them, that they
“despise authority.They are
presumptuous, self-willed,” and like brutish beasts “speak evil of the things
they do not understand” (verse10, 12).“They are spots and blemishes [in the churches], carousing in their own
deceptions while they feast with you . . . They have a heart trained in
covetous practices, and are accursed children.They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, FOLLOWING THE WAY OF
BALAAM the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (verses 13-15).

These
are the ‘Nicolaitans.”Halley’s
Bible Handbook tells us of them, “Sexual vice was actually a part of
heathen worship, and recognized as a proper thing in heathen festivals.Priestesses of Diana and kindred deities
were public prostitutes.The thing had
been a troublesome question for Gentile churches from the start. . . Meantime
great multitudes of heathen had become Christians, and had carried some of
their old ideas into their new religion. . . Naturally there were all sorts of
attempts to harmonize these heathen practices with the Christian
religion.Many professing Christian
teachers, claiming inspiration from God, were advocating the right to free
participation in heathen immoralities.In Ephesus, the Christian pastors, as a body, excluded such
teachers.But in Pergamum and Thyatira,
while we are not to think that the main body of pastors held such teachings,
yet they tolerated within their ranks those who did” (p.694).

Ancient
Pergamos was a city where the worship of Zeus and Asclepios were endemic, whose
symbol was a serpent entwined around a rod or staff.It was a city where paganism and politics were closely entwined
and allied.Nicolaitan pressures were
very strong in this city where pressures to “compromise” would have been very
heavy.

“Sacrificed to Idols”

The
Nicolaitans seduced God’s people to “eat things sacrificed to idols” – that is,
participate in heathen, pagan festivals, including sexual immorality – in other
words, to commit spiritual fornication and adultery – which is IDOLATRY!This convergence of Christianity with pagan
beliefs and practices was sheer APOSTASY in the eyes of God!

The
Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary tells us, “Since the same practice and
teaching of immorality and of idolatry appear in the church of Thyatira, the
Nicolaitans, though not named, were probably present also in this church
(Rev.2:20-25)” (p.547).By the time of
the Thyatira church age, the problem had grown into a much greater state or
condition, for at that time a woman, “Jezebel,” represented the group of
apostate heretics and their heresy – a powerful church in conflict with the
true Church, masquerading as the true Church.John wrote, to Thyatira, “Nevertheless I have a few things against you,
because YOU ALLOW THAT WOMAN JEZEBEL, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach
and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed
to idols” (Rev.2:20).God says of that
heathen “church,” which inculcated massive pagan practices and festivals into
its church calendar, “Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who
commit ADULTERY [idolatry!] with her into GREAT TRIBULATION, unless they repent
of their deeds” (v.22).

Down Through Church History

It
is clear from the evidence that this heresy, which began as a small group, in
the first century, mushroomed and became a strong, dominant CHURCH by the third
and fourth centuries, and became the foundation of the Church of Rome and the
papacy.It is described in Revelation
17 as a “woman sitting on a scarlet beast” with the name:“Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of
Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth” (Rev.17:3-5).

By
the Middle Ages this church became the great persecuting church and was guilty
of spilling massive amounts of the blood of the true saints and servants of God
(Rev.17:6).

What
was the main crime of this church?Spiritual fornication – or spiritual adultery!Combining pagan practices and doctrines with the Word of God, or
replacing the teachings of God’s Word with corrupt, pagan deceptions and lies,
straight from the bowels of Satan the devil!

Says
The Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary, “Pagan feasts might thus foster
immorality, which is understood literally as licentiousness, or possibly in an
allegorical way as unfaithfulness to God. . . . At Thyatira followers of
Jezebel claim to know the deep things of Satan. . . . This claim to special
knowledge of deep mysteries marks the incipient Gnosticism which flourished a
century later (Iren.Her.II.2.2).The
Nicolaitans may be taken to be a heretical sect, who retained pagan practices
like idolatry [such as image worship, observing pagan holidays like Christmas,
Easter, Halloween, etc.] and immorality contrary to the thought and the conduct
required in Christian churches” (p.548).

The
early church fathers also spoke of the Nicolaitans.“Tertullian reports the lust and luxury of the Nicolaitans, cites
evidence from Revelation, and adds that there was another sort of Nicolaitans,
a satanic sect, called the Gaian heresy [worship of Mother Earth, which has
reared its ugly head today] . . . Clement of Alexandria knows of followers of
Nicolaus, ‘lascivious goats,’ who perverted his saying that it was necessary to
abuse the flesh . . . Clement undertakes to show that Nicolaus [the deacon
mentioned in Acts 6:1-6, a faithful servant of God] was a true ascetic and that
the later, immoral Nicolaitans were not his followers, though they claimed him
as their teacher . . . Later their name flourished as a designation for
heretics.”

The “Synagogue of Satan”

When the
Nicolaitans become powerful and the apostasy becomes full blown, and matures,
then it changes into a whole Church – but no longer in any degree or sense a
part of God’s true Church but an entirely apostate Church body!When Satan the devil takes over the church
body, it becomes literally a “synagogue of Satan”!

This
was prophesied to happen during the course of history, and a vast parallel
church would be formed of people who think they are Christian, but they are far
removed from the original true teachings of the apostles during the first
century.

John,
in the book of Revelation, spoke of it in the message to the Philadelphia
church.He wrote, to this faithful and
true body of believers, who held fast to the truth, and did not deny His Name,
“you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My
name.Indeed [for this reason] I will
make those of the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN, who say they are Jews [spiritual
Jews or true Christians] and are NOT but LIE[they are deceived frauds, impostors, phony as a $6 dollar bill] –
indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I
have loved you.Because you have kept
My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which
shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth”
(Rev.3:8-10).

Christ
warns this church body, the genuine “Philadelphia” church, called that because
God names things according to their dominant characteristics, and this church
is characterized by “brotherly love,” for the Greek word philadelphos literally
means “brother love.”He warns it,
“Behold, I am coming quickly!HOLD
FASTwhat you have, that no one may
take your CROWN” (verse 11).

This
church does not slip into the apostasy of the Nicolaitans.In fact, it has conquered them and their
full-blown image – the “synagogue of Satan” by remaining faithful to God’s Word
and doctrine!

But
many, not knowing or understanding, fall victim to the “conquerors” – the
“victors over the people.”Speaking of
such religious leaders, Paul declared, “For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.And no wonder!For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose
end will be according to their works” (II Cor.11:13-15).

Church
history has been replete with such splinter groups, heresies, sects,
denominations, cults of all bizarre types and sizes and beliefs.They are all part and parcel of the “great
apostasy” that developed over the centuries from the original church of
God.

Paul
warned the brethren in Ephesus, “For I know that after my departure savage
wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse
things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30).

He
was especially concerned about the church in Galatia, and wrote to them,
exclaiming, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you
in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there
are some who trouble you and want to PERVERT the gospel of Christ” (Gal.1:6-7).

This
was already beginning to occur during the very FIRST generation and Age of the
church!The apostasy and heresy has
developed and grown massively since that era, with thousands of Octopus-like
tentacles reaching throughout the world.

How
did it all begin?When did the real
apostasy really start?

The Real Nicolas Identified

Who was
the original founder of this apostasy?There is no evidence to support the idea that an early deacon in the
church named Nicolas was the one who began this heretical movement.The New Testament nowhere says that he later
went astray.Rather, he was a man who
was chosen for a special task, along with Stephen, one of “seven men of good
reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:5).

However,
God calls things what they are – He names people according to their major
characteristic.A look at the name
“Nicholas” will be helpful.It
literally means “victor of the people.”A synonym of “victor” would be “one who vanquishes an enemy; a
conqueror” (The Winston Dictionary).

Who
was the great conqueror, who first led the world into APOSTASY?

“Cush
began Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.He was a might hunter before [or,
Hebrew, “against”] the LORD” (Gen.10:8-10).He was the first world despot or tyrant upon the earth after the
Flood.Alexander Hislop, in The Two
Babylons, tells us, “He [Ninus] was the first who carried on war against
his neighbors, and he conquered all nations from Assyria to Libya, as they were
yet unacquainted with the arts of war” (p.23, Hislop quoting Justin’s “Trogus
Popeius”).Ninus was Nimrod, the most
ancient king of the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Nimrod
“began to be mighty upon the earth.”He
was a great dictator, autocrat, and ruled with an iron hand.He was very contentious and brooked no
insult or disobedience to his iron-fisted rule.He was also the religious leader of the world, leading mankind
away from the worship of the true God and into incredible idolatry.He was the founder of the “Babylonians
Mysteries” (compare Rev.17:1-5).

Cush and Religious “Chaos”

Says
Hislop, “Cush [Nimrod’s father] is generally represented as having been a
ringleader in the great apostasy” (p.25).Cush was also known as Hermes [“son of Ham”], or Mercury, and was “the
great original prophet of idolatry; for he was recognized by the pagans as the
author of their religious rites, and the interpreter of the gods” (ibid., p.25-26).Cush was also known as Bel, “The Confounder,”
who confounded the truth with his replacement lies and deceptions.He was also called Janus, “the god of gods,”
who said of himself, “The ancients . . . called me Chaos.”

He
was the one who brought “Chaos” into the world after the Deluge.

Nimrod: The Original “Nicolas” and Arch Apostate

Cush’s
son Nimrod (or “Ninus”) “inherited his father’s titles, and was the first king
over the Babylonian Empire, which he created by conquest.Nimrod also led the great rebellion against
God by building the tower of Babel, in an attempt to unite all mankind under
his rulership and in defiance of the ordinances of heaven.

Hislop goes on
to say that when the deification of mortals began,“the ‘mighty son’ of Cush was deified, the father, especially
considering the part which he seems to have had in concocting the whole
idolatrous system, would have to be deified too, and of course, in his
character as the Father of the ‘Mighty one,’ and of all the immortals that
succeeded him.But, in point of fact,
we shall find, in the course of our inquiry, that Nimrod was the actual Father
of the gods, as being the first of deified mortals” (p.32).

Josephus, in Antiquities
of the Jews, tells us, “Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an
affront and contempt of God.He was the
grandson of Ham, the son of Noah – a bold man, and of great strength of
hand.He persuaded them not to ascribe
it to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that
it was their own courage that procured their happiness. He also gradually changed the government into
a tyranny, -- seeing no other way to turn men from the fear of God, but to
bring them into a constant dependence upon his power” (Bk.I, iv, 2).

Nimrod was the
first great “victor of [or over] the people.”He was the first “Nicolaus.”He
is the one for whom the WHOLE SYSTEM is named!His name is stamped on the forehead of this “Mystery, Babylon,”
religious system which seeks to bring the whole world into one unified
religious system of belief, doctrines, and religious globalization.

To compromise
with that entire system or any part of it, God says He HATES – He is
passionately against it – it is utterly idolatrous, the horrendous religious
system inspired and created by Satan the arch-enemy of God – the devil who
deceives the WHOLE WORLD by masking truth of God and replacing it with his
nefarious, devious, enticing doctrines (see Rev.12:9)!

Where Are the Nicolaitans, Today?

The
Nicolaitans today comprise all those people who DEPART from the truth of God, and
jettison the true teachings and doctrines of the Bible, for the substitute
“mush” from the churches of “nominal, mainstream” Christianity, which has over
the centuries, plunged back into a religious system originating in ancient
Babylon, and from there to Rome, and from there to Protestantism, and the
wide-ranging cults, sects, and denominations of our current generation.

The world is
full of them!They are everywhere –
like dandelion seeds, wafting on the winds, blown about and scattered all
around us.“You will know them by their
fruits,” the Messiah Yeshua declared (Matt.7:20).

The vast,
overwhelming number of churches in the world today would fall into the category
of the infamous “Nicolaitans”!The
deception is global.And it is getting
much, much worse, and stronger!

The apostle
Paul wrote, about the last days, before the coming of Christ, “Let no man
deceive you by any means for that Day will not come unless the FALLING AWAY
comes first, and the man of SIN [lawlessness] be revealed, the son of perdition
[destruction], who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or
that is worshiped [such as Nimrod himself!], so that he sits in the temple of
God, showing himself that he is God. . . . For the mystery of lawlessness is already
at work; only he who now restrains will do so until He [or “he”] is taken
out of the way.And then that lawless
one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth
and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (II Thess..2:3-8).

An end-time
“Nicolas” – victor or tyrant over the people – is soon to appear on the scene!

The end-time
resurrection of this evil apostasy and deception is fast falling into place and
coming together before our very eyes, at this moment in history!

False Doctrine - a Mark of the Nicolaitans

What are
the identifying “marks” of this vast, deluded apostasy?How do you know that you personally have not
to some extent fallen into some form of this adulterated subspecies which broke
off from true Christianity?

First,
look at their teachings and doctrine. Compare them with the Scriptures very
carefully, taking nothing for granted.Believe nobody, but check up on everey7body, and then believe your
Bible!The apostle Paul wrote, “PROVE
ALL THINGS; HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD” (I Thess.5:21).Isaiah the prophet wrote, “To the law and to
the testimony [the Old Testament and the New Testament – the Word of God]!If they do not speak according to THIS WORD,
it is because there is NO LIGHT in them” (Isa.8:20).

Paul
praised the Bereans because “they received the word in all readiness, and
SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY to find out whether these things were so”
(Acts 17:11).Paul wrote to Timothy,
exhorting him (and all of us), “Be diligent to present yourself to God, a
worker who does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth” (II
Tim.2:15).

Nicolaitans
are those who have departed from the faith, in some degree or completely.They have been led astray by false teachings
and doctrines.Most have rejected the
true Sabbath.Most have rejected the
TRUE holy days of God, the annual festivals of His Word (Lev.23), and some THINK
they observe them, but have been misled, and keep a false “Passover,” a
false “Pentecost,” and even the wrong days for the other holy days, and reject
specific commandments of God when they do so!Most reject the TRUE calendar of God, the New Moons, and the proper
calculation of the Hebrew months, and therefore the holy days.Many accept a false, “fixed’ Jewish calendar
when replaced the true calendar in 357-58 A.D. in the time of Hillel II.

And
these are only SOME of the false teachings of modern day, end-time
“Nicolaitan”-influenced churches which claim to be the true remnants of the
Church of God and assure the people that they have the bona fide “TRUTH”!

But
Yeshua declared, “Thy Word is truth,” (John 17:17), and “The Scripture cannot
be broken” (John 10:35), and asserted also, “Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt.4:4; Luke 4:40.

The Second Fatal Identifying Mark –

False Form of Church Government

The
Nicolaitans are also like their original founder, Nimrod the apostate, guilty
of not only compromising the truth of God, and adulterating it, and mixing it
with PAGAN beliefs and doctrines and practices, but they possess a wicked,
deceptive, deceitful form of CHURCH GOVERNMENT.They are often in the form of religious tyrannies,
authoritarian, totalitarian, abusive ministers, and very quick to discipline
and disfellowship recalcitrant or slow-to-conform members of their
churches.They are very intolerant and
autocratic – and rule their congregations like a “god” or a Hitler with a
Gestapo-like ministry.

Jeremiah
the prophet prophesied of them:“ ‘WOE
to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!’says the LORD.Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds
who feed My people: ‘You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not
attended to them.Behold, I will attend
to you for the evil of your doings,’ says the Lord” (Jer.23:1-2).

Speaking
of the churches of God, and the religious leaders of His people, God says, “
‘For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their
wickedness,’ says the LORD.‘Therefore
their way to them shall be like slippery ways; in the darkness they shall be
driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of
their punishment,’ says the LORD.And I
have seen folly in the prophets [ministers, pastors, preachers] of Samaria [the
modern United States, Britain and house of “Israel”]; the prophesied by Baal
and caused My people Israel to ERR” (Jer.23:11-13).

God
is very angry at these end-time preachers, ministers, and their lack of true
conversion, humility, fear of God, and arrogance!He thunders, “ ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who
prophesy to you.They make you worthless;
they speak a vision [or doctrine, teaching] of their own heart, not from
the mouth of the LORD” (v.16).

God
is going to punish.He declares, “The
anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has executed and performed the
thoughts of His heart.In the latter
days you will understand it perfectly” (v.20).

Do
you understand?Do you fear and tremble
before the Word of God?(see Isaiah
66:1-2).Do you humble yourself before
His Word?

God
goes on in His severe warning:“I have
not sent these prophets, yet they ran.I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied [preached].But if they had stood in my counsel, and had
caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their
evil way and from the evil of their doings” (vs.21-22).

God
would even forgive them, for their preaching in His name, if only they would
preach the TRUTH!But they don’t,
and they won’t.So God declares, “I
have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy LIES in My name, ‘I have
dreamed, I have dreamed!’How long will
this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies?Indeed, they are prophets of the DECEIT
[deception, false teaching, false doctrines] of their OWN heart” (vs.25-26).

God
thunders, “ ‘The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has
My word, let him speak My word faithfully.What is the chaff to the wheat?’ says the LORD.‘Is not My word like a fire?’ says the LORD,
‘And like a hammer the rock in pieces?Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,’ says the LORD, ‘who STEAL
MY WORDS everyone from his neighbor” (vs.28-30).

The
warnings of Yahveh God are very explicit.He declares, “Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams
[false ideas, teachings of their own heart – see verse 26],’ says the LORD,
‘and tell them, and CAUSE MY PEOPLE TO ERR by their LIES and by their
RECKLESSNESS.Yet I did not send
them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,’ says
the LORD” (Jer.23:32).

And
in verse 36 God warns, “For every man’s word will behis oracle [“burden”], for you have PERVERTED the words of the
living God, the LORD of hosts, our God” !

Very
serious charges, these are!Don’t you
agree?

The
LORD Yahveh says He is going to forsake utterly those who pervert His Word, and
preach the deceit of their own hearts, make His people to err and go astray by
their LIES, and their “RECKLESSNESS” regarding His divine Word, His TRUTH!

Modern-day
“Nicolaitans” and their followers should get a real “HEADS UP” and WARNING from
Jeremiah’s message in chapter 23.He is
speaking to THEM!

The Final Mark – Abuse and Cruelty

Ezekiel
the prophet was inspired to continue this awesome, power-packed indictment
against the shepherds of Israel during the end-time.He wrote, “And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, “Thus
says the Lord GOD to the shepherds:‘WOE to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with
the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.The weak you have not strengthened, nor have
you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what
was driven away, nor sought what was lost; BUT WITH FORCE AND CRUELTY you have RULED
them.So they were scattered because
there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field
[false churches, religions, and spiritual gurus] where they were scattered”
(Ezek.34:1-5, NKJV).

Notice!These churches, regardless of their
posturing and posing, and dubious claims, persecute the flock under them.They mistreat God’s people, cause them to
grovel in the dirt before their imagined authority, rule them with CRUELTY and
hardness, harshness, and overbearing authority.

They
do not love the flock; they are not loving or good shepherds, who would even
give their lives for the sheep (see John 10:11).Rather, they are mere ‘hirelings,” who have their own agenda,
their own motives, for being ministers, teachers, and pastors!The Messiah Yeshua said, “But a hireling,
one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and
FLEES; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.The hireling flees because he is a hireling
and does not care about the sheep” (John 10:12-13).

Do
we get the picture?Do you know ANY
ministers or churches like that?How
does your minister or church handle it when or if members DARE to ask questions
concerning doctrines, teachings, beliefs, or Scriptures which seem to conflict
with the church’s teachings and doctrines?

True Ministers

A
true minister of God will handle questions in a gentle, loving, patient
manner.As Timothy was told by the
apostle Paul, “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger
men as brothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity” (I Tim.5:1).

Paul
declared, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all,
able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if
God perchance will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and
that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having
been taken captive by him to do his will” to stir up strife and cause confusion
in the flock, and to destroy all he can, for he is the “great destroyer” (II
Tim..3:24-26).

Peter
tells the true servants of God, the true ministry, “Shepherd the flock of God
which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not
for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted
to you, but being EXAMPLES to the flock” (I Pet.5:1-3).

And
to the church members, God says, “Remember those who rule [lead] over you, who
have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome
of their conduct.Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever.Do
not be carried about with various and strange doctrines.For it is good that the heart be established
with grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied
with them” (Hebrews 13:7-9).

Paul
adds, “Obey those who rule [lead] over you, and be submissive, for they watch
out for your souls, as those who must give account.Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be
unprofitable to you” (verse 17).

And
to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote, “And we urge your, brethren, to recognize
those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish [“instruct
or warn”] you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s
sake.Be at peace among yourselves” (I
Thess.5:12-13).

Warning for the End Time

The
problems with false teachings, false doctrines, and the spirit of Nicolaitan
ministers and teachers, was foretold to become very serious and extreme in the
“end of days.”The apostle Paul warned,
“Now the Spirit expressly [explicitly] says that in the LATTER TIMES some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of
demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a
hot iron” (I Tim.4:1-2).

In
his second letter to Timothy, Paul issued the same warning, only more
explicitHe wrote, “But know this, that
in the LAST DAYS perilous times will come:For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving,
slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors,
headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a
FORM of godliness but denying its power.And from such people turn away!For of this sort are those who creep into households and make
captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the TRUTH.Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so
do these also resist the truth” (II Tim.3:1-8).

The
Nicolaitan condition is like a spiritual cancer, that spreads and poisons cells
and creates tumors and metastasizes until it spreads its lethal cargo
throughout the whole body.If it is not
purged, it leads ultimately to death.

Therefore,
God tells His true ministers, and servants, to be on their guard.“Preach the word!Be ready in season and out of season.Convince, rebuke, exhort, with al longsuffering and
teaching.For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires,
because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and
they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables”
(II Tim.4:2-4).

Each
one of us is responsible for our own salvation.We dare not trust any man to do our work, study, prayer, or
research for us – we must work out our own salvation, “with fear and trembling”
(Phil.2:12-13).Paul also declared,
“that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of
deceitful plotting” (Eph.4:14).

Salvation
is serious business!The spirit of
Nicolaus/Nimrod and religious deception is alive and well, and thriving in this
end-time generation.

For
more information on this and related subjects, write for our articles:“The End-Time Apostasy,” “The Great
Apostasy,” “Crisis in the Church of God,” “Where Did the Church Go Wrong?”,
“Back to Babylon,” “How Have the Mighty Fallen!”, “The Son of Perdition,” “How
Should God’s Ministers Be Ordained?”, “The Plain Truth about Church
Government,” “Church Authority – The Truth about Totalitarianism,” “How To
Study the Bible,” “What Is Moses’ Seat?”, “Anointing and the Laying on of
Hands,” Prophetic Errors of Herbert Armstrong,” “Which Church Is God’s True
Church?”, “40 Differences – a Statement of Beliefs”

Now
that you know what the “Nicolaitans” are, what are you going to do about
it?